Language Village

Come along as we go a-linguisting through the wonders of language and linguistics (and often feminism, queer theory, and anti-racism)! Your guide on this journey is DS, a Professor of Linguistics at an American State University. Welcome to the Language Village!

[dipthong-prime]

Learning a new language means opening a whole new world of bad puns

[languagevillage-blog]

20 New Lines from The Epic of Gilgamesh Discovered in Iraq, Adding New Details to the Story

The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest narratives in the world, got a surprise update last month when the Sulaymaniyah Museum in the Kurdistan region of Iraq announced that it had discovered 20 new lines of the Babylonian-Era poem of gods, mortals, and monsters.

[languagevillage-blog]

Heading back to campus like...

[dsbigham]

This is a weird question, but...you seem like you know some stuff about some stuff.... So, I fairly recently found out that SURPRISE! I'm going deaf. So, after wrestling with it for a while, (denial is great, but also not at all) I decided to start telling friends, family, etc. I also decided to start learning sign. Here's the rub.... When I suggested to my boyfriend "Hey, you should come learn sign with me" his reaction was along the lines of "...But why would I do that?" So...what should I do?

Ooo… my gut response is “dump his ass” (but keep reading!). Dump his ass for three reasons: (1) In its most basic, stripped of cultural or personal context, you’re saying to your boyfriend, “Hey, there’s this thing I want to do and I’d like you to do it with me.” And his response is “Why would I do that?”. Maybe you’re suggesting Salsa Dancing classes, maybe you’re suggesting a daily walk in the park, maybe you’re suggesting Sushi & Tacos Night, maybe you’re suggesting learning Italian together, maybe you’re asking if he wants to get a cat. Doesn’t matter– if his response isn’t “Okay. I’m open to it. Let’s discuss.” then dump his ass. Life is a journey and all that crap– why spend time with someone who doesn’t value your suggestions on that journey? (sorry for the shit metaphor)

(2) But it’s not that basic, is it? You’re not suggesting a road-trip detour to see the World’s Largest Ball Of Twine (in Cawker City, KS– I’ve been there). You’re going deaf. You’re about to enter– you’re being forcibly pushed– into a world that’s new (and probably scary, frustrating, existential-crisis-inducing) and at least a little bit stressful. And you’re not asking him to take up a Book Club with you. You’re asking him to join you on this small fucking detail in this Not Quite Planned And Not Entirely Optional Path You’re Now On and his response is something less than “Okay, I’m open to it.” Dump his ass.

(3) Above and beyond the “togetherness lifewalk” crap, you’re apparently dating a guy who, when faced with an opportunity to expand his horizons, learn a language, open himself up to a new culture, couldn’t fathom why that’d be a good thing. An inherently good thing. Regardless of what’s happening to you. You said, “hey, let’s learn” and he said “why?”. Fuck that guy– dump his ass.

Okay, so that’s my gut reaction. But you know him better than I do. Maybe his “Why would I do that?” is because he’s been thinking you’ll get a hearing aid this whole time and doesn’t think it’s a big deal. Relatedly, maybe he doesn’t realize that ASL is a language and assumes you can just fake it (most people are woefully under-informed about deafness and ASL, so this is really very possible). Or maybe you haven’t communicated to him that learning ASL because you’re going deaf is a big deal so his response is more of a “Hey, I’m going to change the oil in my car, do you wanna watch?”– “Why would I do that?” situation. Or maybe an infinity of other options, reasons, particulars, etc. that I know nothing about. So maybe don’t dump his ass just yet. Maybe try explaining it again. Tell him that you’re doing this because you’re scared and you want him to be there for you. Or whatever. Tell him it’s important to you and then ask him to join. Then if he says no, dump his ass.

[dsbigham]

Oh, spit, I just realized I assumed this was from an American Sign Language perspective. Sorry. Replace “ASL” above with whatever particular signed language you’re learning.

[deactivated-blog]

Russian print and cursive writing.

[whosaprettypolyglot]

The heck is up with French numbers? Why is it like that? It's so weird

I’m not sure whether this is a real question or just a complaint but I’m going to treat it like a real question.

Basically it’s a throwback to a different counting system they used in older French and which still exists in many other languages called the “vigesimal” counting system, meaning it uses base 20. In English we use the decimal system, or base 10, so each time you get to 10 you start counting again. Languages using the vigesimal system start counting again each 20 instead of each 10, and it does sound and feel kinda weird if you try to translate it into a language that uses decimal. 

Apparently it’s unclear exactly how the vigesimal system was first introduced though it was likely through a Celtic or Norman influence - many Celtic languages today (Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Breton - Irish doesn’t anymore) all still use base 20 counting systems.

So in the past it used to be that 30 was vingt-dix, 40 was deux-vingts, 50 was deux-vingt-dix etc. For whatever reason those ones were lost/replaced, but 70 80 and 90 were maintained.

Interestingly, in some parts of France (the east), and in Belgium and Switzerland, you’ll see an entirely decimalised system using septante, huitante/octante, and nonante.

As one final note, if it’ll help you feel less weird about it - English kinda did a similar thing too. Though we don’t reeeaally use it anymore, the word “score” could be used to mean 20 (in the same way we still use a “dozen” to mean 12), and when that American guy with the hat did that speech that started “four score and seven years ago” - 87 years ago - he’s literally saying “four twenties and seven years ago”, which is exactly as you’d say it in French - il y a quatre-vingt-sept ans.

[datasoong47]

Danish numbers 50-90 are also based on base-20, although it’s a bit obscured by contractions.

50 = halvtreds, short for halvtred synds tyve, literally “half-third times twenty”, half-third being an archaic word for “2½“, so it’s 2½ times 20

60 = tres, short for tre synds tyve = three times twenty

70 = halvfjerds, short for halvfjerd synds tyve, literally “half-fourth times twenty” = 3½ times 20

80 = firs, from fir synds tyve = four times twenty

90 = halvfems, from halvfem synds tyve, “half-fifth times twenty” = 4½ times 20

Apparently other Romance languages also sporadically used 20s in medieval times, but that usage has since disappeared.

Interestingly, in Old French, all numbers 30+ could be expressed decimally or vigesimally.  E.g., you could say vingt-dix for 30, deux-vingts for 40, etc.  There’s a hospital in Paris called the Quinze-Vingts from the fact that when it was founded it had 300 (15 twenties) beds, so apparently the vigessimal system went up pretty high.

[languagevillage-blog]

MIT claims to have found a “language universal” that ties all languages together

A language universal would bring evidence to Chomsky's controversial theories.

First off, stg I thought this was a ClickHole headline. Secondly, read the article. It’s absolutely bonkers. WTF is going on at MIT? I mean, this goes beyond bad circular argument, this is a freakin corkscrew. Here, I’ll summarize:

“Our axiomatic batshit theory says that words should be able to appear absolutely anywhere in a sentence, but they don’t! Why? GENETICS! In 37 out of, eh, 6500ish languages, this thing that we’ve decided should be able to happen doesn’t! U.N.I.V.E.R.S.A.L.I.S.T. proof!”

[scottieglot]

Don't know my tumblr password

And I’m locked out of my old email. So now I only have tumblr on my phone :(

[languagevillage-blog]

A Modern Horror Story.

[teamklingon]

tlhIngan Hol: NUMBERS

Klingon originally had a ternary number system; that is, one based on three. Counting proceeded as follows: 1, 2, 3; 3+1, 3+2, 3+3; 2×3+1, 2×3+2, 2×3+3; 3×3+1, 3×3+2, 3×3+3; and then it got complicated. In accordance with the more accepted practice, the Klingon Empire sometime back adopted a decimal number system, one based on ten. Though no one knows for sure, it is likely that this change was made more out of concern for understanding the scientific data of other civilizations than out of a spirit of cooperation.

The Klingon numbers are: 1 {wa’}                      6 {jav} 2 {cha’}                     7 {Soch} 3 {wej}                      8 {chorgh} 4 {loS}                      9 {Hut} 5 {vagh}                 10 {wa'maH}

Higher numbers are formed by adding special number-[[keep hyphen]] forming elements to the basic set of numbers (1–9). Thus, {wa'maH} <ten> consists of {wa’} <one> plus the number-forming element for <ten,> {maH.} Counting continues as follows:

11 {wa'maH wa’} (that is, <ten and one>) 12 {wa'maH cha’} (that is, <ten and two>) etc.

Higher numbers are based on {maH} <ten,> {vatlh} <hundred,> and {SaD} or {SanID} <thousand.> Both {SaD} and {SanID} are equally correct for <thousand,> and both are used with roughly equal frequency. It is not known why this number alone has two variants.

20 {cha'maH} (that is, <two tens>) 30 {wejmaH} (that is, <three tens>) etc.

100 {wa'vatlh} (that is, <one hundred>) 200 {cha'vatlh} (that is, <two hundreds>) etc.

1,000 {wa'SaD} or {wa'SanID} (that is, <one thousand>) 2,000 {cha'SaD} or {cha'SanID} (that is, <two thousands>) etc.

Numbers are combined as in English:

5,347 {vaghSad wejvatlh loSmaH Soch} or[[vaghSad=>vaghSaD]] {vaghSanID wejvatlh loSmaH Soch} 604 {javvatlh loS} 31 {wejmaH wa’}

Some of the number-forming elements for higher numbers are:

ten thousand {netlh} hundred thousand {bIp} million {‘uy’} Zero is {pagh.}

Numbers are used as nouns. As such, they may stand alone as subjects or objects or they may modify another noun.

{mulegh cha’} <Two (of them) see me.> ({mulegh} <they see me,> {cha’} <two>) {wa’ yIHoH} <Kill one (of them)!> ({wa’} <one,> {yIHoH} <kill him/her!>)

The preceding sentence is grammatically correct even without the {wa’} because the prefix {yI-} indicates a singular object. The {wa’,} therefore, is used for emphasis only. Numbers used as modifiers precede the noun they modify.

{loS puqpu’} or {loS puq} <four children> {vaghmaH yuQmey} or {vaghmaH yuQ} <fifty planets>

The plural suffixes ({-pu’, -mey}) are not necessary when a number is used. When a number is used for numbering, as opposed to counting, it follows the noun. Compare:

{DuS wa’} <torpedo tube number 1> {wa’ DuS} <one torpedo tube>

Ordinal numbers (<first, second,> etc.) are formed by adding {-DIch} to the numbers.

{wa'DIch} <first> {cha'DIch} <second> {HutDIch} <ninth>

Ordinal numbers follow the noun.

{meb cha'DIch} <second guest> Adding {-logh} to a number gives the notion of repetitions. {wa'logh} <once> {cha'logh} <twice> {Hutlogh} <nine times> These numbers function in the sentence as adverbials

FONT: The Klingon Dictionary by Marc Okrand

(Remember: if you have some doubt, you can ask me about Klingon language)

[linguisten]

And for the historical xenolinguists among you: Bernard Comrie, 1995, “The Paleo-Klingon numeral system”. HolQeD 4.4: 6–10.

[languagevillage-blog]

Me: What do you think about languages

Date: I think learning a new language is a waste of time

Me, showing breadsticks to my manpurse: Büyük bir hata yaptım.

Date: What?

Me: Ég gerði mikil mistök. No podemos estar juntos. Я должен идти.

[fyeahdisneyatlantis]

Milo Meets Kida: Translated! (aka milo fails at atlantean)

Origin: Atlantean

“Who are you strangers and where did you come from?”

Origin: Atlantean

(HALTINGLY & with a bad, very american accent)

“Who…are you strangers and….where did you come from?“ 

Origin: Atlantean 

“Your manner of speech is strange to me.”

Origin: Atlantean

“I….travel…friend!”

Origin: Atlantean

“…I travel friend…

(impatiently) …You are a friendly traveler?“ 

(does anyone else love how she’s correcting his shitty atlantean LOL bbies ♥)

Origin: Latin (look at this frickin dweeb switching into latin)

“So, my friend, I am a traveler!”

Origin: Latin

“You speak the language of the Romans!”

Origin: French (milo plz)

“Do you speak French?”

Origin: French

“Yes, sir!”

[theprettieststarrr]

Christopher Eccleston: Why my Doctor had to be northern

“If you’re an alien how comes you sound like you’re from the north?” Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler asked The Doctor ten years ago – now Christopher Eccleston has finally revealed why his Time Lord had a northern accent.

“Lots of planet have a north” the Doctor told Rose way back then, but Eccleston (who returns to our TV screens in ITV’s new thriller Safe House on Monday April 20th at 9pm) gives a rather different answer in this week’s edition of Radio Times.

“I wanted to move him away from the RP (received pronunciation) for the first time because we shouldn’t make a correlation between intellect and accent” he says, “although that still needs addressing”.

The self-described working-class actor also says that cultural inequality is “much more pronounced” in Britain than it used to be, and that it would be difficult for a young actor with his background to succeed in the industry today.

“You can’t blame Eddie Redmayne or Benedict Cumberbatch but inequality will lead to a milky, anodyne culture. To an extent that’s already happened,” he argues.

Eccleston stresses that it’s not just about the working class though. “There’s not enough writing for women or people of colour” he says. “It frustrates me when they insist on doing all-male Shakespearean productions – a wonderful intellectual exercise, maybe, but it’s outrageous because it’s putting a lot of women out of work.”

[foxy-voxy]

Every time I think I can’t love Eccleston any more, he gives an interview like this and I find new nooks and crannies in my heart for him.

[roane72]

Lord have mercy, but he’s aged well.

[norsenaturetolkien-deactivated2]

English is a difficult language. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.

[ziraseal]

you need to stop

[prototumblinguist]

El voseo

A Presentation about the voseo, a "special" phenomenon in Western Hemispheric (Latinoamericano) Spanish

If you want to learn about the voseo, I made a presentation that explains the different manifestations of it throughout the Americas.

[panda-robot-deactivated20170222]

Just a few comments:

WTF is “Western Hemispheric Spanish”??? American Spanish. Latin American Spanish. Spanish of Latin America/the Americas. New World Spanish, even.

Ladino is NOT the language of Sephardic Jews in Spain. It’s the language of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain after 1492 and into the early 16th century. Many Sephardim now live in Turkey and Israel, some speaking Ladino.

[aegean-okra]

Old Hungarian Alphabet

The ancient Hungarians, or Magyars as they call themselves, had a distinctive writing system called rovásírás (rovás for short), or Old Hungarian script in scholarly circles. This script is also called “Hungarian runes” due to the angular shape of its letters, but it is not related in any way to Germanic Futhark. Instead it is most likely related to Turkic Runes employed by Turkic tribes in southern Siberia, which the Magyars encountered and interacted with in their migration from Central Asia to Europe.

The oldest rune-shaped inscription in Hungary dates from the 9th and 10th centuries CE, but these earliest texts are poorly understood and maybe even not in the Hungarian language but perhaps in an unidentified Turkic dialect. The first mention of the Old Hungarian script occurred in the late 13th century CE in a Latin chronicle of the Hungarians written by Simon de Kéza which mentions the rovás of the Székelys, a subgroup of the Magyar that inhabited Transylvania instead of the Carpathian basin. The earliest Old Hungarian list of all letters in an alphabet, appears in a printed book from the palace library of the city of Nikolsburg and dates to 1483.

After the establishment of the Christian Hungarian kingdom the script became less used and slowly forgotten because the Latin alphabet was adopted and forced to use. However, only a small layer of the society could use the Latin alphabet, thus the Hungarian runic script was only used among village people in medieval times. In remote parts of Transylvania, however, the runes remained in permanent use and were taught at schools until the 18th century. They were used by the Székler Magyars in Hungary until the 11th century. In remote parts of Transylvania however, the runes were still used up until the 1850s. During the 20th century there was a revival of interest in the alphabet.

Sources x x x x 

[tastefullyoffensive]

Babylonian era problems. (photo via tbc34)

[dama3-deactivated20210619]

old school hate mail

[jakovu]

Imagine how pissed you have to be to engrave a rock

[thesparkofrevolution]

Ok but there was this guy called Ea-nasir who was a total crook and would actually cheat people ought of good copper and sell them shit instead. The amount of correspondences complaining to and about this guy are HILARIOUS.

[skeletonrex-deactivated20151101]

Are you telling me we know about a specific guy who lived 5000 years ago, by name, because he was a huge asshole

[thesparkofrevolution]

More like 4000 years ago but yes. Ea-nasir and his dodgy business deals.

[prokopetz]

And we haven’t even touched on the true hilarity of the situation yet. Consider two additional facts:

He wasn’t just into copper trading. There are letters complaining about Ea-nasir’s business practices with respect to everything from kitchenwares to real estate speculation to second-hand clothing. The guy was everywhere.

The majority of the surviving correspondences regarding Ea-nasir were recovered from one particular room in a building that is believed to have been Ea-nasir’s own house.

Like, these are clay tablets. They’re bulky, fragile, and difficult to store. They typically weren’t kept long-term unless they contained financial records or other vital information (which is why we have huge reams of financial data about ancient Babylon in spite of how little we know about the actual culture: most of the surviving tablets are commercial inventories, bills of sale, etc.).

But this guy, this Ea-nasir, he kept all of his angry letters - hundreds of them - and meticulously filed and preserved them in a dedicated room in his house. What kind of guy does that?

[ source ]

[krxs10]

Fun Fact for all you skeptics out there:  Police killing are getting worse. #Every8Hours is getting dangerously close to becoming more frequent